In the mid 1980s activists in Cayo Hueso, an inner city neighborhood in Central Havana, Cuba, began to identify needs within their community and call for the upgrading of their urban environment (e.g. infrastructure, housing, social and cultural life). With the assistance of the locally elected Popular Council, the municipal government, and established organizations within the community (e.g. women’s organizations, trade unions, Committee for the Defence of the Revolution), an “integrating workshop” (Taller Integral) was created to organize for community improvements. The severe economic crisis in Cuba in the early 1990s hindered implementation of the actions that were being sought. However, by 1995 governments at all levels, called for a mobilization of resources from within Cuba as well as internationally (from UNICEF, OXFAM, and other NGOs in Canada, Brazil, and Europe) to meet the needs of Cayo Hueso. The Municipal Council President then approached the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to assist the community in evaluating the intervention program and a series of action research projects were initiated. In 1997, with the assistance of Canadian researchers, a set of indicators was developed to guide the evaluation through the application of state-the-art qualitative and quantitative methods. The results are being synthesized and, following further meetings of the community-Cuban -Canadian research team, will be disseminated throughout Cayo Hueso, and the comparison community, Colon, which is eager to learn from the results obtained. This paper outlines the development of the intervention program and community-researcher interactions in evaluating the various components
Learning Objectives: Describe how a transdisciplinary collaborative project between a community and environmental health researchers linked with international colleagues has strengthened a community's ability to effectively use resources to improve the neighborhood's quality of life.
Keywords: Environmental Health, Community Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.